Not so Ordinary
by Flametongue
Summary: AU. The future is always uncertain, that's for certain. He has his future perfectly planned while she has no idea what she wants with her life. Ah, the melancholy of a student.


**(A/N)** I know that there are probably some rabid readers out there waiting for me to update Snowflakes and I can assure you, the next chapter is on its way. In the meantime, please enjoy this Shikamaru-Tayuya oneshot that I decided to write when I was stuck with my crappy laptopwhile some annoying electricians pulled a cord through my living room, thus limiting the access to my stationary computer.

**Disclaimer**: The characters of this story are all the property of Kishimoto-sensei. Lucky bastard.

* * *

**Not so ****Ordinary**

Every day he walked the exact same route to school. Today was no different from the other. First he took the ten minutes walk from his home to the train station from which he rode a train for approximately twenty-four minutes before reaching his stop, taking into account that the train wasn't late of course. From there he would walk for about five minutes before reaching a small park which took about seven minutes to walk through. After that, there would be another ten minutes of walking past a convenience store and up a horrendously steep hill before arriving at the school building exactly five minutes before the gates closed. All in all, he would traverse for nearly an hour every morning, taking the exact same route on his way home later in the day. Some might claim him to be elaborate for taking the time to count the minutes of his travel from point A to point E and all in between but for him it was as simple as breathing; it just came naturally for him. Strangely enough, he never used this 'skill' to its full potential. On the contrary, he never did anything past what he was required to do.

Indeed, Nara Shikamaru had never been a person of many actions. Most who knew of his existence saw only what he wanted them to see; an ordinary high-school student with no spectacular features or talents, other than perhaps his hair which was a bit too long for school regulations to allow. This was what he wanted; ordinary. If the world viewed him as ordinary, that meant that in the eyes of society, he _was_ ordinary.

A select few people knew the truth though, and that was a few too much for Shikamaru's comfort. This not-so extraordinary boy had a very extraordinary mind. With an IQ of over two-hundred, he would easily be able to pass the entrance exam of the most prestigious high school in the country and after graduating he would just as easily be able to attend any university he wanted, even the ones only for the elite, such as Tokyo University.

That is, if he wanted to.

"Troublesome…" muttered the teenager as he put his sneakers into his shoe-locker, taking out his school-regulated indoor-shoes.

Many would kill to have his brain and if he could, he would give it to them without a fuss. He knew how people would react if they knew just how smart he was. They would praise him, put him on a pedestal and fawn over him before they would start to pressure him and push all kinds of responsibilities on him. Of course, he could always reject such responsibilities but it wouldn't make him feel better.

No, his high level of intellect was more of a burden to him and his dreams for the future. While a lazy person at heart, he had already planned out how his life would be. He would graduate this ordinary high school, enter an ordinary university and get an ordinary office job with a decent salary, he would marry an ordinary woman, neither beautiful nor ugly, he would have an ordinary family and die of old age, an ordinary man.

Yes, that was his dream; a simple life with few or no hardships at all.

Pushing open the sliding door, he entered the classroom with his bag slung over his shoulder and a lazy wave to those greeting him. He made his way over to his seat, the one furthest to the back by the window, and sat down just as he always did. And as always, his best friend came over to sit down on the bench next to his, "Yo, Shikamaru."

"Yo." Shikamaru answered the plump boy lazily as he set his bag down next to him before leaning forward to rest his head in his arms, "Sensei's gonna get mad at you again if she sees you eating before class."

Akimichi Chouji only sniggered in response and tossed another handful of potato chips into his mouth, chewing and swallowing before answering, "Not if I manage to finish and then hide the evidence before she gets here."

"You say that," Shikamaru countered, "but you always open up another bag right after finishing. It's a reflex of yours."

Chouji clenched a fist in front of him, chewing on another mouthful of chips, "Today's different! I've managed to cut down the time between bags through hard training and discipline!"

"Uh-huh," came the not very enthusiastic answer, "How many minutes?"

"Five." Chouji answered with a straight face, causing Shikamaru to smirk. Knowing his friend, he figured the plump boy must have spent more time practicing eating discretely so that he could sneak a few chips from the bag he tended to keep hidden in his bench in class.

"Alright, take your seats!" Came the overly cheerful voice of their homeroom/Japanese teacher, Mitarashi Anko as she entered the classroom, causing Chouji to choke on a potato chip and hurriedly hide his still unfinished meal in his friend's school bag, a motion that prompted an almost inaudible chuckle from Shikamaru, "We'll start homeroom soon but first I wanna hand out the results from last week's test." She had an almost inhumanely wide smile on her lips as she sat down, waving a stack of papers around.

As his friend returned to his designated seat near the front and Anko started calling out names, mixing roll call with the returning of tests, Shikamaru idly pondered why this particular teacher enjoyed her job as much as she appeared to. He could never imagine himself working as a teacher. There were far too many responsibilities.

When the teacher called out his name, he stood up and walked to the front slowly with his hands in his pockets, "Once again, you managed to pass just barely, Shikamaru-kun." Anko said as she handed him back his test, adding with a grin, "If you continue like this, you'll end up failing one day, you know."

With a small smirk on his face, Shikamaru took the paper and answered, "I'm just too ordinary to do better, Anko-sensei."

* * *

"Fuck, I'm bored." Proclaimed one red-headed girl as she squatted on the ground behind one of the school buildings, head tilted back a little and a lighted cigarette dangling between her lips.

"Then go to class." Suggested a tanned boy from where he was seated on the ground next to her, busily playing some sort of game from a hand-held console, though his equally bored expression suggested that he had already clear said game several times before already.

"Then I'd be even more bored, dumbass." The girl replied, taking a puff of her poisonous stick.

"Tayuya, you shouldn't sit like that." Another individual interjected; a rather large boy sitting across from the red-head, "I can see your panties."

"Then don't look, pervert." The girl, Tayuya, didn't seem to care much that her underwear were practically on display in her squatting position for anyone who found themselves directly in front of her. "Hey, Kidoumaru, lend me your toy, will ya? I'm fucking falling asleep here."

"Get your own." Came the bored response from the tanned boy next to her, causing the redhead to bite down on her cigarette.

"Stingy fuck, you stole it anyway."

Kidoumaru only gave a lazy grin in response, "Finders keepers. That otaku won't miss it anyway." Any other day, Tayuya would likely have cuffed him above the head and exclaimed that he was just as much of a nerd when it came to games himself but today she simply didn't have the energy.

"If you're that bored, why don't ya join a club or something?" Joked a silver-haired teen, sitting across from Kidoumaru, never taking his eyes from the questionable magazine in front of him. Behind him, with his back leaning against his, sat another boy, the splitting image of the other, though he appeared to be in deep slumber despite his position, "I bet anyone'd just _love_ to have someone with your colorful personality in their club."

Tayuya felt almost like throwing her cigarette at her 'friend' but refrained from doing so, only tossing him a resentful glare, "Fuck you, Sakon. Even if I'd fall that low, club activities aren't until after classes."

Sakon looked up from his magazine with a cheeky grin, spreading his arms wide in an overdramatic gesture, "Oh, I'm sorry! I've never been in a club so I wouldn't know, unlike little miss orchestra girl." His words brought amused chuckles from everyone present, save Tayuya and Sakon's sleeping twin.

This time, the red-head really did throw her cigarette at the boy who only batted it away with a hearty chuckle, "Aww, did I upset you?" He cooed at her as she stood up and presented him with her middle finger before turning to her overweight friend, holding her hand out.

"Oi, Jirobou, gimme another smoke?"

Jirobou did as he was told, though still smirking from Sakon's little joke at the girl's expanse, "Where are you off to?"

"None of your fucking business." Tayuya responded as she started to walk away, lighting her cigarette as she did.

"Say hello to the choir-girls for me!" Sakon called after her with an exaggerated wave, grinning from ear to ear, "I hear there's a real cutie there with glasses and bracers, maybe you could be friends!"

Tayuya rolled her eyes in annoyance as the laughter of her so called friends grew more and more distant and she rounded the corner of the building, "Assholes." She often wondered why she kept hanging out with people like them and she always came to the same conclusion; she didn't have anyone else. It was either them or complete solitude. While she had no intention of alienating them completely, solitude felt rather tempting at that moment. She regretted ever telling them about how she'd been playing the flute for many years ever since she was a kid, it always made her the butt of Sakon's jokes. He never seemed to tire of mocking her and the others never seemed to tire of joining in on his laughter either. Of course, she'd made her fair share of jokes about the others but it still annoyed her.

Making sure to stay out of sight from patrolling teachers and classroom windows, she continued to lazily walk around the school grounds, thinking about whatever came to mind while occasionally taking a drag off of her cigarette. She knew very well what the poisonous fumes could and probably would do to her body if she continued to smoke but, quite frankly, she didn't care that much. Lung-cancer? The chances of her getting that were slim to none. Rapidly aging skin? She never cared for appearance anyway. Bad breath? Tooth brushes and tic-tac took care of that.

She didn't worry much about her future either. Before entering high-school, she had surprisingly enough been a bit of an honor's student, at least when it came to her grades. She always scored good or better than average at the tests, sometimes even being number one in her year. One day however, her class had been given an assignment where they would describe their dreams and ambitions for the future. Save for her name and student number, Tayuya's sheet had been completely blank.

Try as she might, she still couldn't for the life of her figure out what she wanted to do with her life. By the time she entered high-school, she felt that everything was just plain pointless. She started skipping classes, she stopped playing the flute, she started hanging out with other 'delinquents', she started smoking. All she needed was an ankle-high skirt and she'd be a full-blown Yankee-girl.

Leaning her back against the wall of one of the school buildings, she gazed up at the sky with a look of melancholy on her face, wondering where she would be and what she would be doing in ten years. Even if she somehow found the motivation to complete her studies, she'd probably still continue to hang around Sakon and the others, possibly join the Yakuza or something. She had heard that the twins had friends in one of the local clans. The thought wasn't that tempting but it was still far better than ending up as an office lady or something similar. Not that anyone would want to employ her. Even if she graduated from some esteemed university, her attitude and foul mouth would most likely cause her would-be employers to reject her on the spot.

Even thinking about it caused her to sigh. She made to take a puff of her cigarette but realized it had long since turned to ash while she was busy thinking. Tossing the butt aside, she cursed her fate for not looking older than she was, that way she could have bought her own instead of always having to mooch off of Jirobou.

She remained in the same spot for a few minutes, staring at the sky before she got bored with even that. Suddenly, the bell rang to signal the end of first period. The next class would start soon and with that thought, Tayuya pushed away from the wall with another sigh, "Might as well." Even listening to the lousy pronunciation of her English teacher was better than staring off into space all day.

* * *

"So, why're you eating with us today?" Shikamaru asked the blonde girl sitting in front of him. Along with Chouji, she had pushed two benches closer to his to form a large, makeshift table of sorts.

"Because Sakura's being a pain, obviously." Yamanaka Ino proclaimed regally as she opened her boxed lunch, consisting of a very small portion of rice, a plum and a simple salad.

"Go figure." Shikamaru answered with a roll of his eyes as he opened his own, more balanced lunch, curtsey of his mother, "What is it about this time?" He wasn't exactly curious but years of friendship had taught him that unless he acted like he cared, there would be hell to pay.

"Something about Sasuke again?" Chouji filled in, already wolfing down his own enormous lunch.

Even as Ino started going on and on about her one-sided love and her rival/best friend, Shikamaru tuned her out, leaving Chouji in charge of answering all her statements with nods and mumbled words.

He didn't understand women at all. Despite his superior intellect, he could never come to a logical conclusion regarding the actions of anyone belonging to the female gender. They could say one thing and mean something completely different. He made a mental note of taking a course in psychology once he entered university. It would be a great hassle but at least that might give him some insight in the workings of a woman's mind and that would most likely be useful once he got married.

"Shikamaru, what do you think?" He was brought out of his musings as Ino addressed him specifically, forcing him to partake in the conversation.

"Hmm? About what?" He replied dully, making no attempts at hiding the fact that he hadn't listened to a word Ino had said up until that point. His friend rolled her eyes and reaches out to pluck a grain of rice from his cheek, flicking it away as she clarified.

"About Sakura! Don't you think she's being too obvious?" She looked over her shoulder and appeared to make a serious attempt at glaring holes through the pink-haired girl who was happily watching as Uchiha Sasuke ate of the lunch she had most likely woken up early to make, with their mutual friend Naruto watching enviously as he munched on a piece of bread.

Too obvious? If a woman could ever be obvious in her intentions, Shikamaru would be overjoyed, "They're friends. Making lunch for a friend isn't that big of a deal." He said, popping some rice into his mouth before pointing at Ino with his chopsticks, "You used to make lunches for us for field trips in middle school, remember?"

"Stop that." Ino reprimanded him for his bad manners as she pushed the offending chopsticks away, "And that's different. I've known you two since kindergarten but Sakura's only known Sasuke since we started primary school!"

"Whatever." Shikamaru sighed. He seriously didn't see how that could make a difference.

Ino rubbed her temples, "Gaah, it's so frustrating! I seriously need to blow off some steam!" She slammed her fists down on the bench, making both Shikamaru and Chouji look up at her as she continued, "You two aren't doing anything after school, right? Come shop with me then!"

Shikamaru winced as Chouji choked on his food. Shopping with a girl like Ino was always a cliché of her running around from place to place, with her friends being the designated bag carriers. Luckily, Shikamaru had an excuse to not come, "Can't, I've got club activities."

Chouji turned to him with a look that clearly spelled 'traitor', because unfortunately for him, the cooking club he belonged to only gathered two days a week. Of course, today was not such a day.

Ino gave Shikamaru a skeptic look, "Oh, come on. You're the only member of that club! I'm surprised they even let you keep going."

Shikamaru couldn't suppress his smirk as he replied, "It's still mandatory."

His blonde friend pouted at him for a moment before turning to Chouji with a sugar-coated smile, "Chouji-kun, you're free, right?"

The boy in question looked like a deer caught in headlights as he held his hands up in front of him, "I…no…well…"

"I'll buy you dinner."

Those words sent all thoughts of reason flying from Chouji's head as he quickly held his hand out, his expression serious and professional, "It's a deal."

Ino grinned and shook the offered hand, causing Shikamaru to shake his head in wonder. He idly wondered if Chouji might one day be persuaded to sell his soul for food, as his dignity seemed to come at such a cheap price.

* * *

Tayuya hated History. She utterly and completely despised the whole subject. She could never understand how anyone could find it interesting to listen to someone talking about what a heap of people did several centuries ago. She understood that the subject existed so that people wouldn't forget about the past but to her, the past was exactly like the future; pointless. Why linger on something that happened so long ago? Who cares about how people lived five hundred years ago or what kind of political system they had? In her opinion, those kinds of facts belonged in a movie script rather than as a high-school subject.

She looked around at all the good students as they feverishly took notes of every single word that left the teacher's wrinkled lips, at the average students who played around with their pens and listened with half an ear to what was being said. She wondered if any of them seriously believed that they would ever have any use for this information. She also wondered what the hell she was doing in this class in the first place. Not only had she shown up for her English class but History as well. Attending two of her least favorite classes. It was most likely a personal record of sorts. Granted, after English, she had simply eaten her lunch and returned to laze around with her fellow delinquents, skipping out of another class until the others decided to leave. Tayuya hadn't felt like going home and going to the arcade center with Kidoumaru was something she had long since learned to avoid. The game-freak always won whatever game she decided to challenge him in. This left her with the only choices being walking around aimlessly or going to class again.

She wished she had checked her timetable beforehand. She would have preferred Math over History any day. At least math was logical and that made it easy for her to understand. Music was another subject she could tolerate. Never mind being forced to sing, simply listening to the rest of the class making fools of themselves with their messed up voices was enough for her to actually _enjoy_ herself to some extent.

She found herself thinking about the time when she still played the flute. She always told herself that it was lame and that she was finished with the whole matter. She had even gone as far as to throw her own, expensive instrument away. Now, she found herself missing it just a little. She remembered how it felt to hold it in her hands, pressing her fingers down on the keys. She surprised herself as she realized that she still remembered a few songs.

'Maybe a little revising wouldn't be so bad.' She thought idly as she gazed out the window. It wasn't like she was going to pick up on playing again, she was just going to see just how rusty she had become, nothing more. Then again, she didn't have her flute anymore. She sure as hell wasn't going to ask the people in the music club if she could use one of theirs even if that was her only option. She was on the verge of discarding the idea of even playing when the thought struck her. She didn't have to ask for permission, she didn't even have to let anyone know what she was doing. Not if she simply 'borrowed' a flute without asking. The thought brought a small, mischievous smirk to her lips.

"Tayuya-san." Came the voice of the wrinkled old lady who called herself a teacher, "Is the tale of Oda Nobunaga that funny or have you been spacing out during my entire lesson?"

Tayuya had been so absorbed by her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed how the teacher had walked down to her bench and now stared at her with disapproving eyes. She glared right up at her for a few silent moments before her smirk returned and she replied, "The latter."

The teacher nodded once, "I see." And then she turned, heading back to the front of the room, "Go stand out in the hall, Tayuya-san."

Without a word, the red-head stood up and left the classroom, feeling the eyes of the entire class on her back before she slid the door shut behind her.

* * *

Shikamaru didn't even try to conceal his yawn as it forced his mouth wide open, the notion causing a pair of girls passing by him to giggle. Annoyed and slightly embarrassed, he reached up to scratch his chin, murmuring, "Troublesome females." Having bid his friends goodbye for the day, he now headed for the so-called 'Mandatory club activity'.

The Shougi club of which he was the chairman, secretary, senior member as well as junior member, was a club only in name. The only reason the school had even approved of its existence was because one of Shikamaru's teachers liked the game just as much as he did, and being the son of the principal gave Saurtobi Asuma-sensei quite a lot of off-screen authority. So with the promise that Asuma could come and challenge Shikamaru whenever he wanted, the Shougi club was established.

Being the sole member of such a club had its pros and cons. Shougi was a game for two so the only thing Shikamaru could do when his teacher wasn't around was to think up different scenarios and strategies. While most people would find such a pastime boring, Shikamaru enjoyed it quite a lot. It was nowhere near as fun as playing with an opponent but it was enough to keep him occupied and with club activities being mandatory according to the regulations of this school, it was perfect for him.

Since he was the only member, of course the school would never accommodate him with a real clubroom, no matter his teacher's position or interests. He had to make due with a small room that was used as a storage-room for several other clubs. It was therefore filled with a myriad of material not currently used by their owners. One of the conditions for him being allowed to use the room was that he kept it fairly clean and organized and so he had developed a good sense of where all the objects in there were located. Every now and then, students from other clubs would show up and ask for something they needed and he would look it up for them. No one had ever come there trying to find what they looked for by themselves.

This is why Shikamaru was quite surprised when he opened the door to find a strange girl quickly hiding something behind her back.

The red-haired girl looked like a deer caught in headlights as she stared at him. He stared back at her until she gained a fierce expression and barked, "Don't you know how to fucking knock!?"

Her attitude caused Shikamaru to quirk a brow. He studied her for a quick moment. The way she was hiding whatever she had found behind her back made it perfectly clear that she was doing something she wasn't supposed to do. He could easily smell the scent of tobacco on her, despite there being quite a distance between them and the room being more than a little dusty, suggesting that she smoked quite a lot. Obviously, she wasn't your everyday 'good girl'.

"Theft is a crime, you know." He stated nonchalantly as he entered the room, taking his eyes off her with a look of boredom on his face.

The girl winced, immediately proving his theory, thus making her denial pointless, "Shut up! I'm not stealing anything!" She backed away a step as he walked closer to her.

"Huh, then I guess that the thing you're hiding behind your back is something embarrassing that you don't want anyone to find out about." Instead of stopping in front of her, he walked right past her and sat down by a small table next to the window where his Shougi board was located.

Tayuya was surprised and a little startled by the arrival of Shikamaru. She really hadn't expected anyone to show up, having guessed that this was one of those abandoned storages that every school seemed to have. There were several at her middle school. Her surprise faded away and gave way for anger as the boy correctly guessed that she was embarrassed of what she had behind her back but she certainly wasn't about to admit it, "I-I'm just borrowing something." She muttered with the slightest trace of a blush on her cheeks.

"Uh-hu. Well, write down your name, your club and whatever it is you're borrowing on the paper over there." He said with disinterest, as if he had said the same line a hundred times before, pointing to a form taped to the wall next to the door as he started setting up the board.

Tayuya turned to look at where he pointed and frowned, staying quiet for a moment before grudgingly admitting, "I'm not part of any club." She may have been a delinquent but she still had principles. She prided herself in the fact that she never lied. Well, not directly at least.

"Then I can't let you borrow it. Please put it back wherever you found it before you leave." He said in the same bored, almost automatic-sounding voice. Somehow, the way he said it pissed Tayuya off even more than the meaning of his words.

Straightening up, she put one hand on her hip, keeping the other one hidden behind her back as she forced herself to smirk, "And who's gonna stop me from taking it? You?" She had been in situations like these before. Confront someone with the option of taking action or not and their resolve will almost always crumble. It was like how you scared someone from resisting as you stole their lunch money.

Apparently, Shikamaru wasn't like the sniveling brats who usually ended up as her victims.

"Nah, too much of a hassle. Go ahead and take it, though I'm gonna have to report you to the principal."

Tayuya nearly fell over in surprise at his words. That was definitely not the attitude she was expecting of someone being threatened. Gritting her teeth, she decided to put the bar a little higher and so she strode up to him and grabbed him by the front of his uniform, shaking her fist at him, "If you tell a soul about this I'm gonna cut your balls off and shove 'em up your nose!" She gave him her best glare, the kind that had managed to send wannabe macho-guys to their knees in tears.

Shikamaru only grunted in annoyance as his shirt was grabbed so rudely by this flame-haired woman, his eyes immediately going to the fist she shook at him. A fist currently holding a flute, "I doubt you'd go that far for that thing."

Tayuya, realizing her mistake, blushed vividly and quickly hid the instrument behind her back again despite knowing that it was futile, the damage was done. The boy had seen it. She imagined this incident traveling through the entire school by word until it finally reached Sakon and the others. They would never let her hear the end of it. Never mind the fact that Shikamaru most likely had no idea who she was, she didn't like taking chances, "I swear, if you tell _anyone_-"

"You'll cut my balls down and shove them up my nose, blah, blah." Shikamaru interrupted her with a roll of his eyes as he returned to setting up his board, causing Tayuya to make a strangled sound of fury.

His intuition told him not to anger this person because she actually seemed like the kind of girl who'd go through with her promises of pain but his pride argued that he shouldn't let a mere woman boss him around, like they always do. Glancing at her though, she looked as if she might actually hit him and so, with a sigh, he decided he should at least say something to gain her favor, "I won't tell anyone." The girl gave him a suspicious look, obviously not trusting his words. Guessing that she was the kind of person who didn't believe in the goodness of humanity, he added, "I'll just jot something down on the form later and make it look like someone from the music club borrowed it." He placed the last Shougi piece where it belonged, "Just make sure to bring it back by the end of the week."

She narrowed her eyes at him and said exactly what he had expected her to, "What's the catch?" Obviously, he didn't seem like he was taking the threat of her cutting off his testicles seriously so there was no way he would do something like that for her for free.

Of course, she had no way of knowing that Shikamaru really didn't want anything in return. All he really wanted was to be left in peace. Still, since she asked him, he might as well make full use of the opportunity. He gestured towards the board game in front of him with a small smirk, "Be my opponent for a round."

Her eyebrows shot up at that, "You want me to play a fucking board game with you?"

Shikamaru shrugged nonchalantly, "I don't get many challengers around here other than Asuma. It'd be more fun to have some variation."

Tayuya eyed him skeptically. It was hard to believe that all he wanted in return for his silence was for her to play a game with him. He could have asked her for money or even to have her flash her underwear in front of him. She figured that either he was a freakishly simple person or a complete idiot and found herself returning his smirk with one of her own. "Don't cry if you lose."

Shikamaru gave a slight chuckle as she took a seat across from him, "I won't."

* * *

"Rematch!" Tayuya exclaimed and glared at Shikamaru as he captured her king, winning the game.

He raised a brow at her as she stared at him with eyes burning with what he could only guess was the passion of someone who hated to lose, "We've already played two rounds, you know."

"I don't fucking care! Rematch!" She spat out, already rearranging the pieces on the board for a new round.

Shikamaru sighed and followed suit though he couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from twitching upwards. She was good, he'd give her that. But he was better. He guessed that she could probably hold out pretty good in a match against Asuma and maybe even win. He could tell that she had a good head on her shoulders; she just needed a little more practice.

Letting her have the first move, he watched as she switched strategy. She never started in the same manner twice it seemed, probably thinking that she could change the outcome of the game by changing the start. 'Beginner's mistake', Shikamaru thought with a wry smile, starting out just as he always did; by moving one of his center pawns, paving a way towards his king and thus laying the first layer for one of his many traps. The wonderful thing about Shougi was that no perfect strategy existed. You had to adjust yourself to the movements of your opponents and figure out their plans throughout the game. Once you see through their actions, victory is as good as yours.

After about ten minutes into their third game, Tayuya seemed to grow tired of waiting for him to make his move and growled, "You're taking too fucking long!"

"And you're too hasty." Shikamaru countered without missing a beat or taking his eyes off the board.

The red-head growled and started tapping her fingers against the table, glaring daggers at him, hoping to throw his concentration off. After a while, she tired of even that and when he finally made his move, she wasted no time with her turn, having already decided how to go through with her next couple of moves. As she settled back to once again wait for her opponent to make his move, she suddenly remembered the flute now lying innocently next to the board. She glanced at Shikamaru, figuring that since he already promised not to tell anyone, she might as well disregard his presence.

Silently, she picked up the instrument and studied it in her hands. It was old and quite dusty, definitely not a quality product but still good enough for a small practice. She glanced again at the boy sitting across from her, making sure that he was too absorbed in the game to care, before slowly bringing the flute to her lips, testing out the keys with her fingers before giving it a quiet test-run. She could quickly tell that it wasn't nearly as good as the one she used to play but it certainly didn't sound terrible. With only a hint of a smile on the lips pressed to the cold metal, she closed her eyes and started to play a slow, easy tune, the very first one she'd learned several years ago. Hearing the sounds coming from the tune at her command, her music, felt like meeting an old friend after a really long time; awkward but pleasant. She got so caught up in playing this beat-up old flute that when she opened her eyes again and found Shikamaru staring at her she gave a small jump of surprise, having forgotten for a second that he was there, "Wh-what?" She glared at him.

Her raised both his eyebrows at her reaction, "It's your move."

She tried furiously to fight the blush that was heating up her face as she stared down at the board. She found that she had forgotten her plan up until now and so she had to think for several moments before finally making her move.

"You play pretty good." Shikamaru commented, prompting a cheeky girl from Tayuya who jumped at the chance of piecing her pride back together.

"Heh, already realizing you're gonna lose this round?"

Shikamaru gave a smirk in return to her grin, "I meant with the flute."

That caused Tayuya's grin to drop and the blush to return. Looking away, she muttered, "Sh-Shut up…" her flaming hair partially hiding her face.

Shikamaru thought for a fleeting moment that she looked just a little cute like that but those thoughts were quickly chased off as he returned his attention to the board in front of him. Still, he continued to speak, "Why aren't you in the music club, with skills like that?"

Tayuya snorted at the question and placed her elbow on the table, resting her cheek against her knuckles, "Why the hell should I waste my time playing with a bunch of crappy amateurs?"

Shikamaru chuckled as he moved his rook forward, "If they're amateurs, does that make you a professional?"

The girl growled and captured his rook with her gold general, adding it to her lot of captured pieces, "Fuck off. Messing around in a club's too lame."

"Then tell me a way to do things you like without it being lame." He pressed in a dull tone as he nonchalantly countered her move by capturing her gold general, adding it to his lot and making her glare angrily at the board.

"None of the things I like are lame." She claimed childishly, scanning the board for any way of attacking the offending piece that just captured one of her most valuable soldiers. She grudgingly had to admit to herself that she had fallen into a trap, for there was no way for her to get revenge.

"Hmm…" Shikamaru rested his head in the palm of his hand as he watched her trying to come up with some sort of strategy, "So, you're saying that being in a music club is lame but playing the flute isn't?" He smirked, "Sounds hypocritical to me."

"Shut up!" Tayuya growled. It seemed like those words were starting to form a new catch-phrase of hers, "Nobody asked for your shitty opinion!" She grabbed one of her pieces and slammed it down right where she wanted it, a grin of triumph splitting her face, "Check and mate."

Shikamaru looked down at the board in apparent disinterest, giving his situation a quick look over before stating, "Not really." He grabbed his gold general, a piece that Tayuya realized to her horror that she had overlooked, and captured the offending piece, "Now, however," He smirked and the redhead across from him saw that the general was now positioned with a straight line free of obstacles all the way to her king.

"Gah! Shit!" She tore at her hair as she scanned the board for an opening, a piece to move in to cover her king but no matter how hard she looked she couldn't see any way to save herself from defeat, "Fuck! Kuh!" She ground her teeth together and put her face closer to the board, glaring at the little polished piece of wood that robbed her of her victory.

Shikamaru sniggered, leaning back in his chair while stretching his arms above his head, "Well, most people fall for that one, you're not the first."

"Shut up." Tayuya grumbled grumpily, still glaring at his gold general.

They sat there in silence for a while, with him staring out the window lazily and her continuing to glare at the board, backtracking the events of the game to see what she did wrong other than falling for his trap. Shikamaru broke the silence after a while, "Aren't you gonna go play with that flute?"

She looked up at him, blinking in mild surprise. He wasn't looking at her; he kept his gaze at the clouds in the sky outside, an expression of lazy serenity on his face. She turned to look at the flute where it once again rested next to the board. After another moment of silence, she snorted, "With this old piece of shit? Tch, it's not even worth it."

Shikamaru turned to raise a brow at her, lazily uttering "Really?" He reached out and plucked the flute from its resting spot, idly inspecting it. He didn't have any kind of musical talent to speak of. Art and other ways of using one's creativity was his weak point. There was no real logic involved and so he didn't understand it as easily as subjects like math, "It looks fine to me." He stated, turning it this way and that, "Maybe in need of a little cleaning but-"

"Look again, shithead." Tayuya interrupted him, "It needs more than just a little cleaning." She reached out and snatched the flute from his hand and pointed to one of the little holes, "The third key is clogged with rust. Air can still pass through but it makes a fucking annoying sound when I'm not pressing down on it." She pointed to a larger opening, most likely the one where one was supposed to put their mouth, Shikamaru guessed, "The mouth piece is completely messed up, it feels like a fucking piece of sandpaper and the entire damn flute is filled with dust, see?" She took and deep breath and put the instrument to her mouth, blowing into it hard and causing a terrible screeching sound to emit from it as small clouds of dust where ejected through the holes. Dropping the flute, she leaned back in her chair lazily and crossed her arms, "It needs too much damn maintenance."

Shikamaru didn't know if he should feel impressed or simply inferior. Raising his eyebrows, he said, "You really know your flutes."

"Fucking straight." Tayuya replied, "Most people don't even know how to take care of their instruments, that's why they're amateurs. Hell, in middle school, there was this stupid asshole who didn't even know how to tune his own guitar! Can you believe that?"

He was a little surprised by how talkative and somehow civil she had become as soon as the subject turned to musical instruments and so he marveled at how people could change within the span of a few hours. When he first entered the room and from the moment she first opened her mouth to yell at him she had been annoying, but now he found her surprisingly tolerable. He shrugged, "Some people need others to teach them how to do things, I guess."

She shook her head with a sigh, waving a hand about, "You don't fucking get it. You can't be taught how to tune your shit, you need to learn that yourself. You need to know which kinds of sounds coming from your instrument are good and which kinds are fucking annoying."

Shikamaru gave a slight roll of his eyes, "If you say so."

The girl rested her cheek against her knuckles, glaring out of the window, "Tch, amateurs."

After a few moments of silence, the boy in the room gave a slight smirk and half-joked, "If you're so annoyed by amateurs and 'shitty instruments', why don't you go ahead and open a music shop? You can sell 'quality instruments' and teach people how to play at the same time."

Tayuya didn't like his cheeky tone and was just about to let him know that but then the meaning of his words hit her; a music store. If she did that, she would be her own boss. Maintaining a shop was probably hectic and she'd most likely have to spend a lot of time there but that would mean she'd at least have a way to spend her time while earning money. She wouldn't have to become an office lady or a Yakuza to work. Why hadn't this thought crossed her mind before? Of course, she would have to study economy and a great number of other incredibly boring subjects but she quickly surmised that unless you sacrifice something, you won't gain anything.

Her head was suddenly swimming in thoughts and scenarios of how it would be to own her very own shop. This was the most interesting and credible idea regarding her future she had thought of in years! Of course, the one who came with the idea was Shikamaru.

"That's it!" She exclaimed, standing up as she slammed her hands down on the table, sending Shougi-pieces flying in all directions as she practically blinded a startled Shikamaru with her beaming face.

"Wh-what is?" He stumbled over his words, staring at her with wide eyes. He had been close to falling out of his chair.

Tayuya felt even more ecstatic than the first time she had gotten drunk which had been a real thrill in her boring life. She finally had something to aim for, something worth even studying for! She leaned over the table and grabbed Shikamaru by the front of his shirt but this time she wasn't glaring at him and threatening him; she was grinning at him with such joy that the poor boy almost thought that she was a completely different person, "Thanks for the tip!" And then, in a spur of the moment action, she closed the distance between their faces and pressed a hard kiss to his lips. Giving him her first kiss was probably a good way of showing him her appreciation. She didn't care much for what he would think of it though; she was too caught up in the moment.

She didn't stop to look at his utterly flabbergasted face as she broke the kiss and hurried to grab her bag which she had left by the door, laughing to herself, "Fuck, I feel good!" There was so much to do. First, she'd have to give the music club the pleasure of her joining them, and then she'd have to buy a new flute, a good one. All thoughts of ever playing music being lame had somehow evaporated from her head. She'd probably have to give Sakon a good kick where it hurts someday soon too if he decided to open his mouth and say something she didn't like but that didn't matter, not as long as she could to what she wanted to do.

She opened the door and was just about to leave but then she paused and quickly turned around and aimed another grin at Shikamaru, "Oh yeah! I want another rematch tomorrow. Later, fuckface!" And then she was gone, leaving a shocked and confused young man in her wake.

Shikamaru continued to stare at the open door for several minutes after she left, his mouth hanging wide open and his eyes seeming to be ready to fall out of their sockets. That had been his first kiss…and he didn't even know the name of the girl who stole it.

He finally relaxed his face as he slumped forward and rubbed his temples in annoyance as he said what he felt was the most fitting thing to say in this kind of situation, "Women."

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**(A/N)** Moans and groans regarding the future have been a huge pastime of mine as of late and so I decided to put it in writing. Hopefully I'll be as lucky as Tayuya and reach some kind of solution soon.

Now then, ahem. **ALL YOUR REVIEWS ARE BELONG TO ME**.

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